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UNITED STATES PATENT rrrcn.l

RICHARD J. EDWARDS, OF GALENA, ILLINOIS.

PIPEacouPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of' Letters Patent No. 400,759, dated April2,1889.v

Application filed October 23, 1888. Serial No. 288,957. (No model.)

To all whom'it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD J. EDwARDs, a citizen of theV United States,residing at Galena, in the county. of J o Daviess and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Car andAir-Brake Pipe-Couplings, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, in

which-- Figure 1 represents a side elevation. of the adjacent ends oftwo freight-cars coupled together according to my invention; Fig. 2, av

.of the valve in the air-brake pipe.

This invention has relation to that class of car-couplings covered by apatent issued to` mainly, toprovide such couplers with simple lforth.

and improved means, whereby the air-brake hose-couplings are uncoupledand the shut-off cock closed at the same time and by the same movementthat operates the car-coupling devices, as will be more fullyhereinafter set In the accompanying drawings, A A represent theadjacentends of two freight-cars;

vB, the usual or any improved draw-bars provided with the draw-heads C;D, the upper coupling-pins attached to the draw-heads by means ofchains; E, the lower lcoupling-pins inserted in the lower pin-aperturesin the draw-head'and supported by means of a pivoted operating-lever, F;G, the sliding dog in the draw-head, which is adapted to support thecoupling-pin; H, the pivoted lever in a recess, in the draw-head adaptedto operate the saidsliding dog.; I, the depending gravitating rod hungupon the said lever H and adapted to operate it, andfJ the transverseoperating-shaft journaled in the beams of the car andprovided with acrank-arm, J', to

tions K operate the leVerF and operating-handles J at itsend at thesides ofthe car.

The parts are constructed and operated in substantially the same manneras in` my former, patent above mentioned, and a more minute descriptionis deemed unnecessary in this specification. There are, however, la fewimportant part-s which I will now point out. Inlthis device the slidingdog is not operated automatically to drop the pin, as in the formerpatent, but it is operated by hand, the lever H being placed back in arecess in thedrawhead out of the way, so that the couplingdink Awill notstrike against it upon entering. I

prefer this construction'to that shown in my former patent, in that itvwillV preclude the possibility ofthe lever H becoming broken orV injuredin any way. In this invention I also place on the crank-arm J a looseanti-friction grooved roller, by means of which the lever F is elevated.This roller permits the lever to be elevated in a steadier and smoothermanner, asis evident. I also provide the under side of thedraw-head'with depending integral guards C', to preventthe pin E, rod I,and lever F from being injured in any way.

I will now describe the devices employed for detaching or uncoupling thehose-coup lings of the air-brakes.

' The letter K designates the main air-pipe of' the air-brakes providedwith the usual Valves or stop-cocks, a, near the ends of the cars andconnected to the flexible hose-sec- The stop-cock or valve a is operatedby means of a lever, b, secured to the stem of the plug of the cock,this lever b being provided with a leaf-spring, c. When* this arm orlever b is in a horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 2, the passage isclosed, and when turned down to the position shownA in Fig. 7 thepassage through the air-pipe is open. This valve-arm b is turned up toclose the valve by means of a crank-arm, cl, on the rock-shaft J, thearm d bearing against the v yielding spring c to prevent and reducecon-l rock-shaft that when the cars are uncoupled the arm will at thesame time be turned up suiiiciently high to close the stop-cock orcutoff, thus preventing the escape of compressed air.

The ends of the flexible hose-sections K are provided with twin couplingdevices L, provided with suitable interlocking flanged lugs.

I prefer to use in connection with my invention the Westinghousedetachable coupling, and I have shown that construction of device in mydrawings. This hose-coupling is uncoupled by a partial revolution of itstwo sections, and for t-hat reason I prefer to use it. It is evident,however, that l may employ other detachable hose-couplings that uncouplein substantially the same manner without departing from the invention.

Secured on the outer faces or sides of the sections L ot' thehose-coupling by means of screw-bolts or cast integral therewith areupwardly and forwardly projecting' rigid arms L', which are connected bymeans of suitable chains, f, to crank-arms e on the rock-shafts J, asshown. The chains f pass over pulleys g, secured to the bottoms of thecars.

It will be observed that by drawing on either one of the chains j', bymeans of one of the rock-shafts and crank-arms, the coupling-sections LL will be elevated and rotated a sufficient distance to becomedisengaged from` each other, as shown in Fig. 2.

The crank-arms e are so located on the rockshafts that thehose-couplings may be detached by the same movement and at approximatelythe same time that the cars are uncoupled and stop-cock a closed. Itwill therefore be observed that by one partial revolution of one of therock-shafts the whole operation o'f uncoupling is accomplished.

Among the many advantages derived from using my invention is that thewhole operation of uncoupling the cars and air-brake` couplings andclosing air-pipes may be accomplished without 'the slightest danger aswell whenu the cars are in motion or standing` still.

It will be observed that I may use my invention with equal advantage foruncoupling steam-conveying pipes.

To uncouple the cars and shut the stopcocks a, the levers or handles Jare moved forward, and to uncouple the hose-couplings they are moved inthe reverse direction.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination of the cars, transverse crank-shafts journaled uponthe cars, conducting-pipes upon the cars provided with flexiblehose-sections, pipe-couplings on the ends of these lieXible sections,these couplings being provided with interlocking lugs andupwardly-extending arms, and chains connecting the upwardly-extendingarms with the respective crank-shafts on the cars, whereby the couplingsmay be uncoupled, whether the cars be in motion or at rest,substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the cars provided with draw-bars anddraw-heads, of the coupling devices, multiple crank-shafts journaled onthe cars and adapted to operate the uncoupling devices, the air-pipesprovided with the flexible sections, the pipe-couplings provided withinterlocking lugs and arms, chains connecting these arms with the crankson the respective crank-shafts, valves in the air-pipes, arms on thestems of these valves, these arms being adapted to be operated by crankson the crank-shafts, whereby by a single movement of one of thecrank-shafts the coupling devices may be uncoupled, the pipe-couplingsuncoupled, and the valves in the air-pipes closed, substantially asdescribed.

3. rlhe combination, with the cars, of the multiple crank-shaftsjournaled in the cars and provided with operating-handles, the airpipesprovided with stop-cocks, arms on the stems of these cocks, these armsbeing adapted to be operated, by the cranks of the cranksl1afts,ilexiblehose-sections on the ends of the air-pipes, coupling-sections on theends of these ilexible sections, these coupling-sections being providedwith interlocking lugs and rigid arms, and the chain for connectingthese rigid arms with the respective crank-shafts, whereby the saidstop-cocks maybe closed and the hose-sections detached at one operation,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

RICHARD J. El)\VARI)S.

lVitnesses:

CHAs. S. MERRICK, W. H. SNYDER.

